Head lice policies

[farishtaRN]

just wondering what your various policies on head lice are? we currently have basically a zero-tolerance policy, and if we find eggs or nits we send them home. i didn't make the policy so i'm just following what we already have in place, but today i've managed to send home almost the entire first and second grades! the teachers and elementary principal are of course in full support (and feeling itchy just at the thought of lice!) but i'm getting yelled at by a lot of unhappy parents (quote: "its not like lice is fatal or anything!").

i was just wondering what the rest of you do? when are you sending them home?

[DDRN4me]

many districts have a "no nits" policy. Make sure that every parent understands to not only do thier childs head but those of other symptomatic family members and wash all linens., couches, pillows etc. Put all stuffed animals in a tightly sealed bag for 2 weeks. same with hats etc that cant be washed.

In the classroom, the rug should be shampooed if there is one,and all lockers cleaned out . do the same as at home, if it can be washed, wash it if not bag it or throw away. I worked in a school once that had a loooong infestation, we finally had to close school for a long weekend to call in a disinfecting company.

[bergren]

Did the children have nits or active lice?

If you are exclusing children for nits, you are denying them their right to a public education (FAPE). No nit policies are neither law nor recommended policy and practice by well established groups such as AAP, NASN and Harvard School of Public Health. According to the research, more than 30% of the children school nurses exclude for nits, do not have nits (they have other small white things in hair), and many of the other 2/3s of the children have hatched nits (following treatment) , not viable eggs.

Head lice do not pose a danger to students, and studies demonstrate that screening for head lice in schools does not decrease the incidence of head lice and is not cost effective.

NASN Position Statement is at

http://nasn.org/positions/2004pspediculosis.htm

Harvard School of Public Health information is at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html (and there's an excellent management chart for schools)

AAP Report is at http://www.aap.org/advocacy/archives/septlice.htm

*21 Surprising Things You Might Not Know About Head Lice*

School Nurse Perspectives

http://www.snp.homestead.com

[farishtaRN]

About half of the kids had active lice, the rest were fairly equally divided between nits and eggs. Also, the 1st, 2nd, and K teachers also had nits.

I should also probably mention that I work in a private international school in Thailand, so the right to public education doesn't apply in this instance. Of course I want to keep as many kids in school as possible, which is why I'm curious about what policies others have.

[michigooseBSN]

In my school district we also have a no nits policy. When a child has been treated for pediculosis, they have to be checked by me each morning for a week before going to the classroom. If I find one or two nits, I remove them but more than that means going back home to be denitted by the parent. I seldom have a problem with angry parents simply because those same parents would be hysterical to find that I had allowed a child with nits back into their child's classroom. We all know that lice is more a social problem than a health problem but it's probably the single biggest fear of most of our parents. They don't think twice about having a child in school who is obviously ill where he/she can spread his illness around but heaven forbid their child should be exposed to lice.